Road Losing Streak Continues as Hornets Lose to Warriors

The Hornets have not won a road game since before the All-Star break. On February 11th in Detroit, the Hornets defeated the Pistons 105-86, but since then the road has not been kind to this young team. Tonight, against Golden State, the Hornets started off hot and looked poised to break the streak, but they quickly cooled off and the Warriors surged ahead and never looked back in their 98-88 victory.

The Hornets defense was solid most of the night, as they contained the Warriors outside shooting for the most part, rotating beautifully for stretches, especially in the first and third quarters. Anthony Davis picked up a couple of dumb fouls early and David Lee took advantage as Lou Amundson and Ryan Anderson had some issues trying to cover him. When Davis was on the floor, he wasn’t as productive as we have seen in recent months, producing just six points on 2-11 shooting. Ryan Anderson didn’t help out much either, going 1-8 and scoring just three points, 13 below his season average.

New Orleans certainly played better than they did the last time these two met, but there were huge stretches where the offense simply disappeared and that is not going to get it done on the road against a playoff team. Looking at the big picture, there were some fantastic stretches of defense that we have rarely seen this year and Darius Miller was solid again in his limited playing time. Now it’s off to Utah to try to get that elusive road victory.

Notes and Observations

– Eric Gordon was much more aggressive tonight and got to the line eleven times, but his perimeter game was awful, as he went 1-7 outside of the paint tonight. Regardless, it was nice to see him attacking and playing with far more energy and explosion than I saw earlier this year. A summer of rehab and getting back in tip-top shape could do wonder for Gordon, and if he is here next year, we could see the Gordon that showed so much promise in 2010-11.

– Ryan Anderson was terrible tonight, but to be fair, the Hornets never really looked for him despite the fact that Golden State didn’t really have anyone that could match up with him.

– Solid offensive game from Lopez. I just wish he was as aggressive on the defensive boards as he is on the offensive glass. He really attacks the offensive glass and even ripped the ball out of a Warriors players’ hands two times tonight. Not the same aggression on the other end unfortunately.

– Does Greivis Vasquez know that Jarrett Jack is right handed? He forced him right all game and Jack was happy to oblidge as he constantly drove right and finished with beautiful tear drop floaters.

– The Hornets having been putting a lot more pressure on the ball these last few weeks, as Monty is likely experimenting with the way he wants this team to play defense once he has a point guard who actually has the speed to pressure the ball and stay with the ballhandler when he drives.

– The Warriors were more than happy to give Davis the 17-footer tonight and he hesitated several times before taking it, which forced him to be slightly off. He has to have confidence in that shot and make teams pay for leaving him open on the pick and pop.

– Meanwhile, Al-Farouq Aminu went 4-4 on his mid-range jumpers between 15 and 21 feet. Is it Freaky Friday? Did Aminu switch bodies with somebody? Nights like this will bring out the fans who say, “If Aminu could just develop his mid-range jumper….” Stop it! It’s one game, we have over one hundred games that tell us he is one of the worst perimeter shooters in the league. I will take the hundreds of games of evidence over this game, but it was nice to see him hit a few shots for once.

– Harrison Barnes is terrible. Mark my words, Draymond Green will get more minutes than him in the playoffs. Green is limited talent wise, but he gives everything he has when he’s on the floor and he doesn’t make stupid mistakes. He also is a terrific defender. I really like that guy.

– The Raptors and Wolves won tonight while the Pistons narrowly lost to Boston as Jeff Green had one of his “tease” games. Barring another random three-game win streak, it is looking like the Hornets will either have the fifth or sixth most ping pong balls this May. Fifth worst record has an 8.8% chance at 1st pick and a 29.2% chance at a top 3 pick. Sixth worse record has 6.3% chance at 1st pick and 21.5% chance at top 3 pick. Also, there are five guys in this draft I have way above everyone else (Smart, Noel, Porter, McLemore, and Oladipo), so having the 5th pick instead of the 6th would make me very happy. Go Pistons!

– The Hornets play at Utah on Friday night. Utah got beat down at home tonight by Denver and with the Lakers winning last night, Friday’s game is essentially a must win for Utah.

This was the most aggressive I have seen Gordon all year and he seemed to keep it up in the second half. We played against Golden State, which the deadline trade rumors were based around; and, I remember hearing Joel Meyers say that Dell Demps was at the game last night. That can't be a coincidence, right?

You pointed out everything I wanted to point out lol. Gordon needs to learn how to finish after cutting towards the basket. He could have easily had a 30+ point game. One thing I really liked was how he got to the line. Anderson was off tonight sadly :/ but so was Davis. They'll learn to knock down shots more consistently in the off season. Lopez needs to learn how to hold on to a ball haha. And Aminu played great tonight. I still say we re-sign him to a decent contract cause he can be a defender/rebounder for us that gets to the basket. Every team needs someone like him.